


A Very Venom Christmas

by Roadstergal



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Casual Sex, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Party, Drinking, Eating, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Human Experimentation, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Love, Other, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 06:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16948860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roadstergal/pseuds/Roadstergal
Summary: It should just be a simple holiday party at Anne and Dan's.  But nothing is simple when Venom is involved.  At least it's always a party...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iridescentphantasmagoria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentphantasmagoria/gifts).



COLD.

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed, his voice shaking slightly.  That’s what he got for owning a bike without fairing.  And without heated grips – his fingers felt like slabs of wood.  He could only determine that the throttle was on from the sound of the engine; he couldn't feel the turn in his hand at all.  The road was clear, but the sides were piled high with snow, the evergreens looming green and white, and flurries fluttered down around him, bombarding his visor.  The sky was a sharp, painful ice-blue.

I LIKE IT!  NO FIRE.  COLD IS BETTER.  MORE COMFORTABLE.

“F… for you, maybe.”

Venom eased out from inside of him, merging with his fingers, his face, his core.  He didn’t warm Eddie, but he… made the cold feel good.  Eddie’s fingers moved properly, now, and he wasn’t shivering violently.  And it was still cold!  Wacky shit.  “Thanks!”

WE LOVE THE COLD! Venom yelled gleefully, as they flew along the twisty mountain road.

The Bluetooth GPS (Stark Industries operating under a different brand, and Eddie really did have to finish his piece on how every-damn-thing electronic was Stark Industries these days) talked him pleasantly to the large cabin.  Nice place.  Big, proper tilted roof with bright red eaves, strung with festive outdoor lights.

ANNE IS HERE.  WE LIKE ANNE.

"Yeah, but remember," Eddie pulled his helmet off, "she's with Dan, yeah?"

WE ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN HIM.

"We sure are.  Don't matter." Maybe Dan made her come better, Eddie thought irately.  Or maybe it was just that he was rich.  Rich enough to afford a big house in Bernal Heights, rich enough to have a cabin in Lake Tahoe for parties like this.  Eddie sure wasn't.

OUR KIND KILL OUR RIVALS. THEN TAKE WHAT'S OURS.

"Yeah, well, _we_ don't."  Typically.  Well, not _anymore_.

The door opened when he rang the bell.  Anne opened it, as bright as a holiday sprite in a red sweater, green leggings, and bright red lipstick, curls of holly in her hair.  "Eddie!  So glad you could make it!"  She kissed him on each cheek.  Like a friend.  Well, nothing wrong with friends, he reminded himself... and the party behind them promised distractions and a lot of alcohol, which he appreciated.

"Here, I got you..." He handed her the bottle of Shiraz he had just barely remembered to pick up at Trader Joe's on the way.

"Aw, thank you!" She didn't even look at the label as she took it from him and plopped it on the table.  "Take your boots off," she told him as she closed the door behind him, "and put your leathers on the bed."

Then she was gone into the crowd.  Eddie kicked off his boots sulkily.  It was going to be one of _those_ nights. 

* * *

"You must be Eddie Brock."  The tall, slender, sandy-blonde man in a loud-patterned, wide-lapel button-down that was probably fashionable these days looked him meaningfully up and down.  "I'm Charlie, I'm a huge fan of yours."

God, it sure was going to be one of those nights.  Eddie shook the guy's hand.  "Awesome, always so cool to meet a fan.  Uh, where are the drinks?"

"Oh, I'll take you."  Damn it, Eddie fumed internally as the guy put a hand on the small of his back and propelled him towards the drinks table.  Now Eddie knew how all of those girls who were just trying to make polite excuses to get away from him at parties felt, when he blew right past said excuses and tried to get handsy anyway.  "I make a mean Manhattan."

YOU DO NOT WANT HIS HANDS ON US.  WE WILL KILL HIM.

"No!" Eddie said, sharply.

"What?" Charlie asked, confused.

"Oh, I mean, no, I'm not... whiskey gives me a headache, I'll just take a screwdriver?"

"Vodka, eh?" Charlie winked at him.  "I like your style!"

"Yes, I saw you checking out his _style_ when he walked in," a deep, resonant woman's voice said behind them.  Eddie turned.  A woman almost as tall as him stood behind them, in jeans and a comfortable-looking green sweater, her short, straight, black pageboy cut a contrast to her pale face.  "Cindy.  I hear you're a reporter."

"Word gets around," he agreed, shaking her hand.

"So what are you here _reporting_ on?" Charlie asked, putting a screwdriver into Eddie's hand.

"Nothing.  Anne's just an ol' friend of mine, and asked me up, yeah?"  Eddie took a sip of the drink.  Almost all vodka, with just a splash of orange juice.  Excellent.

"Old friend." Charlie grinned.  "Well, we have friends in all kinds of places, don't we?  I'm an _old friend_ of Dan's."

Eddie made a mental note.  How about that, then.  "Well, bottoms up, yeah?"  He took another healthy swallow.

"Indeed."  Cindy leaned close.  "You did some interesting reporting on the Life Foundation last year, didn't you? I do a little work in that area myself, I'd love to..."

"Oh my _god_ , Cindy."  Charlie took Eddie's arm, pulling him away.  "Talking work on Christmas Eve?  You are _such_ a bore."


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Eddie!  You've met Charlie, I see?" Dan walked over, waving heartily, a grin on his handsome face.

"Dan," Charlie said, without the greatest amount of enthusiasm.  "I was just talking to Eddie, here..."

"Yes, he's a friend of Anne's." Dan wrapped his arm around Charlie's shoulders.  "Charlie!  I haven't seen you in ages!  We did some of the décor in the basement along your lines, made a little entertainment room - here, let me show you!" He winked over his shoulder as he walked the handsy guy off with him.

Eddie sighed.  Yeah, Dan had just... swooped in and rescued him, like a good host, like a step beyond a good host.  Great, another way in which Eddie owed the guy.  His ex's boyfriend was just _disgustingly_ perfect.  He couldn't even come up with a good reason to _dislike_ the guy.  He made himself a fresh screwdriver.  Then a second, so he wouldn't have to go _right_ back to the bar after the first one ran out.

It was a few hours and a lot of drinks later that Eddie saw Cindy again.  He made his way towards her through the crowd, apologizing as he bumped elbows and torsos.  He didn't care if it was the whitest mcwhitegirl name ever, she was _hot_.  "Hey," he said, carefully, walking up to her.  "Eddie, remember me?"

"How could I forget."  She adjusted his collar, a startlingly and delightfully forward gesture.  "Eddie.  The reporter."

Wow, her hands were close to his face.  YOU'RE DRUNK, EDDIE.  THIS IS FUN.  "And you're the... science... thing?"  He took a swallow of his drink.  Sickly sweet... he frowned at it.  Oh.  Bailey's and hot chocolate.  Damn, Venom was right, they were drunk as hell.  And he was single, wasn't he?  He could... play the field.  Or at least, this woman's field.

"I'm a biomarker scientist," she said, with a coy smile.  He had no idea what that was, but it sounded smart, and that was hot, and he was cool with it.  He nodded like he knew what that meant.  "I work for the Life Sciences division of Stark Industries."

"Oh, them!  Every... damn... body works for them, now, yeah?" And he thought Drake had been a little monopolistic.  A little egotistical.  He definitely needed to write that other article.

"Well, all the best people."  Her smile tilted slightly.  "I mean, if you want to do good work, you go where you'll get funded.  And then all of the other good people want to work with the good people there, so," she shrugged.  "It's nice to not have to write grants all of the time.  To just do the science."

"And."  He leaned forward drunkenly.  "It don't... bother you that he's got all of the good tech and good science 'n shit all to hisself?"

"Well, maybe you're overestimating how much we tell him," she said into his ear.  Well, now he was hard.

"So tell me 'bout your work," he said, just to have something to say that wasn't _I want to put my penis in you_.  That one never went down well.

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," she replied.  "Your article on the... you called them symbiotes?  It was very, very interesting."

"Thanks," he said.  People generally thought a writeup about creepy creatures from outer space who took over humans was pretty interesting, yeah.

"I found it _particularly_ interesting," she smiled at him again, winningly, "that you called them symbiotes.  Their relationship with their hosts seemed very parasitic.  They took what they wanted and gave nothing back."

"Well, if it was a bad match, yeah," he agreed, trying to cast his mind back to what he had painstakingly learned in the course of writing his expose.  "But, you know, it wasn't a bad match with Drake, and it made him... all... kinda powerful and shit, yeah?"

"Like an organ transplant, was how you described it," she said, thoughtfully.  "But it seems more than that.  Almost like... mitochondria fusing with our own cells, back in ancient times?"

"M... mitowhat?"

"Never mind."  She patted his hand soothingly.  "Anyway.  Do you know if they could merge with other species?  Other than humans?  They only seemed to kill the rabbits, but..."

"Yeah, why not?"  OF COURSE WE CAN.  IT'S LIMITING.  OTHER SPECIES ARE BORING.  NOT LIKE EDDIE!  EDDIE IS NOT BORING!  "If it's com... patible, you know?"

"Again - that's interesting.  You're an interesting fellow, you know?"  She drained her drink.  "Come on, let's get some refills."


	3. Chapter 3

A loud, wailing howl snapped Eddie awake.  His eyes flew open, and he pulled in a gasp of a breath.

SOMETHING OUTSIDE, EDDIE!

He pulled himself upright, carefully.  He was... in bed... not his bed.  The cabin.  Cold.  There was someone next to him - Cindy!  Asleep, snoring gently.  Had they... he didn't remember...

WE DIDN'T PUT YOUR PENIS IN HER.  ANNE AND THE RIVAL AND THE SHE ALL TOOK YOU TO BED.  THE SHE KEPT HER COVERING ON. 

"You remember?" he hissed, quietly.

YOU LOST CONSCIOUSNESS BEFORE ME.  YOU HAVE A WEAK BRAIN.

"Yeah, tell me about it," he mumbled.  Another howl sounded outside, closer than before.

LET'S GO SEE THAT!

"You just wanna play in the snow!"  Eddie stepped out of bed, dressed only in his underpants, and snuck out into the main room.  It was empty, the only illumination from the sparkling tree lights and the reflected flashes of the holiday lights outside.

YES.  SNOW.  I WANT TO PLAY IN IT!  IT REMINDS ME OF... The next word was a scramble that hurt his brain - some concept Eddie didn't have, that felt like flakes and drifts, but very, very different from snow.  "Ow!"  Eddie grabbed his head with a gasp.

YOU DON'T HAVE...? again, that scramble, and Eddie winced. YOUR LOSS.  Venom oozed out from where he had been lying latent inside of Eddie, merging their flesh, their fingers, their head, their tongue, growing and lengthening into Venom's full form.  It was a this point that Eddie wished he had snuck outside first.

WE HAVE STEALTH! Venom yelled in his head, wounded.  He grasped the door all around its edge with his tentacles, easing it open without a breath of a noise, slipping outside and closing it again.  He bounded eagerly to the snowy hill, leaping into it, sending snow flying as they flailed at it with their tentacles, Venom's joy suffusing Eddie.  "SEE, EDDIE?" he bellowed out loud.  "WE ARE STEALTHY!"

* * *

_What do you think that howl was?_ Eddie asked.

"I DON'T KNOW YOUR ANIMALS ON THIS PLANET.  ONLY THE DOGS AND THE CATS.  AND THE FERRETS.  AND THAT BIRD.  DON'T YOU KNOW?"

_Dunno... maybe a wolf or something..._   And there it was, very close now, a long, lonely howl that sent shivers... well, no, it didn't.  Venom didn't have a spine.  And they didn't shiver.  Eddie was just freaked out.

"NO FEAR!  WE ARE POWERFUL!  WE ARE VENOM!" They leaped over a small rise - and there, in front of them, was a giant slavering... creature.  Four-legged, with big powerful paws and a blunt muzzle, ears pointed and rotated towards them.  It looked, to Eddie's eyes, bigger than a wolf, but what did he know?  It was pure white against the white snow, barely visible in the moonlight, its fur shaggy and thick, its eyes glowing an evil green as it stared at them, its mouth full of teeth that looked razor-sharp - and felt razor-sharp, too, as it leaped at them, sinking said teeth into their arm.

They howled with pain and anger, whipping their arm, throwing the creature off into the snow.   It rolled with an angry whimper, then got to its feet, snarling.

Venom snarled in turn and ran towards it.  Any trepidation Eddie had was lost in what they _were_ together, and it was all power and aggression, grabbing at the beast, taking its upper jaw in one hand and its lower jaw in the other, feeling the _snap_ as they pulled, red blood staining the snow.  A powerful blow to its head, the skull shattering under their fist, the beast falling dead at their feet in a pile of fur and blood and smashed bone.  Yes, fresh meat, freshly killed, a feast for Venom!  He bit its head off, crunching flesh and brain and bone and delicious, delicious tongue, roaring his delight to the skies...

On the back of his neck, a sharp, painful sting, electricity, oh god, FIRE FIRE EDDIE HELP I CAN'T... FIRE!!!  Venom collapsed, screaming, and Eddie _pulled_ at him, away from the snapping heat, inside of his human body, nestling there in pain and fear...

The painful burn stopped, and Eddie fell into a fetal position with a whimper.  He saw, with the world sideways, a black-clad creature flip into his field of view, crouching next to him - a slender, powerful figure in tight black clothing, electricity snapping along two batons in her hands, a familiar face...

"Cindy?" he gasped.

"Eddie Brock."  She pushed one of the batons near his face, and he winced away.  "So you lied."

"Lied?" he gasped.

"You said all of those Life Foundation creatures died - either in the lab or in the launch pad fire."

"Didn't..." he gasped, struggling up to his knees.  The snow was achingly cold on his flesh.  "Didn't say.  Just... implied."

"A lie is a lie.  It's what you wanted us all to think," she replied, her voice cold and steady.

"Wh... Cindy..."

"My name isn't Cindy." She stepped close.  "Most of the people who know my real name are dead now."

"I don't know it!" Eddie waved his hands defensively.  "Haven't a clue."

"Lucky you.  I'm out here investigating..." she looked over at the mess of what remained of the wolf-like creature. "That thing."

"Oh, yeah, me too.  I found it like that."  She glared at him.  "Uh - more or less?"  Venom, sensing his pain at the cold, poked himself out of just his lower body, protecting him from the snow.

"Nice trick," she said, watching carefully.  "But you don't seem to like electricity.  That's a useful bit for me to know, yes?"

 WE CAN KILL HER.  TAKE HER BY SURPRSISE.

"No!" Eddie cried out.  They couldn't just kill everyone who got in their way!

"Well, I think it _is_." Her lip twitched.  "And I think you're coming with me."

Eddie didn't move.  "Where?  Why?"

"To the Life Foundation.  You're stolen property, you know."

"Hey!" He held up his hands.  "I'm not anyone's property.  I'm me!  I'm a journalist, you know, and I can..."

"I can kill you were you sit, and nobody would ever know what happened to you.  Now, that _symbiote_ is company property, and I'm fully authorized to pick up anything I come across that's been stolen, on behalf of my employer.  Unless you can spit it out and hand it over, I gotta take the whole package."

WE SHOULD KILL HER.

"I'll go with you," Eddie said to her, firmly.  " _Voluntarily_.  To talk, to sort this out, okay?"

LOSER.


	4. Chapter 4

The van bumped and slid along the road, Eddie slamming from side to side in the seat as the woman who wasn’t named Cindy drove far too fast down the mountain.  The manacles on his wrists – glowing sullenly with electricity – prevented him from bracing himself.

“Hey, take it easy, eh?” he grunted, swaying into the center of the van before righting himself with an elbow against the center armrest.

“I’ll take it exactly as easy as I want.”

Eddie contemplated her sharp, purposeful profile, wondering if it was a good or a bad thing that he had been too drunk to get to third base with her.

YOU DESIRE TO MATE?

“Nah, just… fun…” he mumbled.

“You have a weird idea of fun,” not-Cindy noted, turning the wheel abruptly.  The van screeched sideways off of the road, and Eddie’s shoulder clonked painfully against the window.

“Hey!” he protested, shifting his sore shoulder.

“Didn’t I mention you’re _property_?  Be quiet,” she growled.

CAN I KILL HER NOW?

“Not yet,” Eddie muttered quietly as they bounced down a rough dirt road.  His curiosity was piqued, and he wanted to see what the endgame was, here.  Perhaps there was a juicy story, some more to the Life Foundation tale.

His rear end was aching to the bone by the time not-Cindy brought them to an abrupt halt.  He grunted as he hit the seatbelt, then fell back against the seat.  Yeah, sex with her would be either terrifying or awesome.  Maybe both.

“Stay.”  She hopped out of the van, then opened the back, dragging the remnants of the carcass of the white… beast… thing out.

“Hey, Nat,” a male voice called out, “what _is_ that?”

“Oh, for… I’m incognito!  Get the guy out of the front.”

Nat, eh, Eddie pondered.  So… Natalie?  He could do some local poking around… the van door on his side opened, and a beefy, square-jawed, white, military-looking dude pulled him out.  “Hey!  Gently!” Eddie protested.

“Who is this guy,” the newcomer asked Nat, “and why is he in his underpants?”

“Long story,” she told him.  “Get him into the trailer.”

Eddie danced slightly across the frozen ground in his bare feet towards – yes, the trailer that was sitting in the middle of a little clearing, up on its stands.  The van must have towed it there.  It was a proper, large RV, the slideouts slid out, and, when he stepped inside, it was pleasingly warm.  He exhaled with pleasure, looking around with interest at the scientific instruments that might be a well-appointed lab and might be a film set, for all he could tell.

The side of the trailer he was in was well-lit.  The far side wasn’t, so all he could see was a shadowy figure tapping at a keyboard in the back.  “Uh, Nat,” said a petulant male voice, “what’s with this dude?  I sent you out to get a wolf, you bring me back a… naked guy.”

“I’m incog… oh, for god’s sake.  You told me to pick up any Life Foundation property I found.  So I did.  That’s why you pay me!”

“Hey, I’m _here_ ,” Eddie said, irate at the way they were talking as if he weren’t.

“Good point,” the shadowy figure said.  “Nat, do something about that.”

Something stung Eddie’s buttock, and then everything went wavy.  Then, dark.


	5. Chapter 5

Eddie moaned, his eyes fluttering against the lids.  His eyelids felt glued shut, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.  Where was he?  What was going on?  Why was he so cold, why was he… bouncing… uncomfortably…

Oh, yes.  The pretty girl.  Cindy.  No… no, _Nat_.  The wolf-thing, the trailer, the… he groaned more loudly.

“Hey, you’re awake,” a male voice grunted.  The one that had pulled him out of the van.  “Couldn’t find any company property in ya, buddy, so we’re taking you back.  You won’t find any signs of us.  Try to report on this, you’ll sound insane.  Got it?”

“Yeah, no company property…” Venom?  He couldn’t hear Venom.  Couldn’t feel him.  Had Venom taken the opportunity to leave?  Or been driven out by the sounds of their instruments?  _Venom_? Eddie yelled internally.  He felt panic fill him.  And… oddly enough, loneliness.  He had gotten used to Venom being there, commenting with surprise or condescension or enthusiasm on what was going on.  He had gotten used to Venom’s endless begging for food.  He had come to love their moral debates, because damn, Venom had a unique perspective.  He had really come to dig… well, the way Venom made him feel, when they were lonely and bored on a Saturday night…

“Here we go.”  The van came to a halt.  “Aww, poor guy, you were drunk and went wandering out in the woods, and had just the craziest dream…” The beefy guy flung the rear doors open, pulled off the manacles, and threw Eddie out of the back.  The doors slammed closed, and the van pulled away, driving off into the night.

“Dream…” Eddie pulled himself to his feet, staggering somewhat from the bounce on the asphalt.  Had it all been a dream?  Even the bits where he had Venom with him?

EDDIE.

“Venom!” Eddie yelled, almost crying out with relief.  He could feel the symbiote, now, curling around inside of him.

EDDIE!  I WAS STEALTHY!!  I DID NOT LET THEM SEE ME.

“Good job.”  Eddie patted his stomach.  “Good job, buddy.”  His stomach rumbled uncomfortably, and he squirmed and gasped.

THEY PUT THIS IN YOU.  Eddie burped, then vomited out a little blinking device into his hand, slightly larger than a grain of rice.  He stared at it with surprise.  WE CAN DESTROY IT…

“Nah…” A tracker, maybe?  He could make sure of it – he knew a guy – and then – “We might be able to have a little fun with this.”  Misleading them, dropping it in a rideshare, sending them on some merry chases.  Eddie walked happily towards the cabin, flooded with relieved endorphins.  They were together again.  Complete.

The cabin door opened, and Anne and Dan stepped out, bundled for a walk against the weather, laughing and kissing.  He stopped first, and then she did.  “Eddie?” she asked, agape.

He looked down at himself – in nothing but his underpants, in the snow, with a handful of vomit.  Then back up at the happy, if currently disturbed, couple.  “Uh.  Merry… Christmas?”


End file.
